Down 14, Centre wins in overtime
Staff writers
Marion, Hillsboro, and Goessel all lost Friday, but Centre pulled out an impressive come-from-behind victory.
Centre
Losing 20-6 in the third quarter Friday against Crest, Centre rallied to win 34-28 in overtime.
With less than nine minutes left in the third quarter, Centre quarterback Noah Brunner bolted into the end zone on a 44-yard run.
Seven minutes later, he connected with Micah Carlson on a 24-yard touchdown to tie the game.
The game is now tied 20-20.
Crest didn’t give up, answering with a 74-year kickoff return.
Pressure started to rise as Centre’s defense stopped Crest’s offense from scoring again in the fourth.
With less than 2 minutes left, Brunner once again found Carlson wide open for a 25-yard touchdown pass.
Julian Resser runs in a two-point conversion, tying the game and forcing overtime.
The Cougars won the overtime coin toss and let Crest have the ball first, but Crest failed to score.
When it was Centre’s turn, Brunner handed off to Resser, who scored on second down to notch the victory.
Centre (2-4) will travel to Lebo (3-3) Friday.
Marion
Marion dropped their second game of the season Friday to Moundridge, losing 28-12 on the road despite quarterback Carson Krause finishing with 300 yards passing, two touchdowns, and an interception.
Krause found Jesse Snyder and Isaac Wesner for the touchdowns. Jameson Looper and Hitch Soyez both had five tackles each.
The Warriors (4-2) will be at home Friday celebrating senior night and playing Remington (1-5).
Hillsboro
The Trojans lost 53-16 on the road Friday to Class 2A’s top-ranked team, Southeast of Saline.
“They’re a well-coached, disciplined, and talented football team that plays hard from start to finish,” coach Demetrius Cox said. “Despite the final score, I thought our team did a number of good things on both sides of the ball.”
Quarterback Zayne Haslett rushed for one touchdown and threw for another. Talon Regier was on the receiving end.
“We just couldn’t quite finish some of our drives or get the key stops when we needed them,” Cox said. “Against a team of SES’s caliber, every detail matters.
“Games like this are great measuring sticks, and we’ll use it to learn and get better moving forward.”
The Trojans (3-3) will play their final home game of the season Friday against Lyons (0-6).
Goessel
It looked like a runaway football game Friday for Solomon
The Gorillas led the Bluebirds 24-0 at the end of the first quarter with Goessel’s offense stuck in neutral.
Things began to change in the second quarter after another Solomon touchdown.
Goessel took over on fourth down and proceeded to march toward the goal line.
Coach Garrett Hiebert called timeout with 2 seconds to play in the half, and the team responded with a 20-yard scoring pass from Brayton Base to Trey Gaddis to make the halftime score 32-8.
Less than a minute into the second half, the Base / Gaddis connection worked again for a 62-yard pass making the score 32-14.
After a Solomon touchdown, Base connected with Wyatt Sommerfeld for 17 yards to get the ball to the two yard line, and Base and the offensive line penetrated the goal line, moving the score to 38-22.
With 4:22 left in the third quarter, Claudio Flores III carried the ball into the endzone from one yard out, but the Bluebirds’ deficit at the end of the third period swelled to 52-28.
The Bluebirds threatened several times but were unable to score in the fourth quarter, and Solomon won, 74-28.
Goessel (1-5) will play Ell Saline (5-1) on Friday in Brookville.
Peabody-Burns
Southern Coffee forfeited its game Friday against Peabody-Burns giving the Warriors an unofficial bye week.
“We are still taking it one week at a time but definitely looking forward to post-season play,” coach Eric Dutton said. “Overall, the team is looking healthy, and the week off helped to heal the smaller injuries we were battling.”
The Warriors (4-2) will play on the road Friday against Chetopa (3-3).